on birds in Flanders during the tear.



133



neighbourhood. We are close to a chateau which is surrounded by

a moat with a small ornamental lake in the grounds. This lake

held, and doubtless still holds, some fine carp and many small bream,

dace, and roach. Many of the fish have been killed by shells burst¬

ing in the water The other day, during a particularly noisy

bombardment, I counted over thirty water hens feeding in a field

adjoining the lake; they paid not the slightest attention to the

shelling. A kingfisher haunts the lake and takes his toll of the

small fish. There are some fine trees in the grounds, though their

number is diminished by shell fire and the furious gales we have

had this winter. I have seen several spotted woodpeckers on the

trees there, and one tree creeper. By far the commonest birds are

magpies, I counted over 20 on one tree and they are all over the

place in pairs and small parties. One can see the numbers of old

nests in the tops of the tall ash trees. There are large numbers of

hoodie crows. One knows how wary this scoundrel is at home, here

he is quite tame and pays no attention to the bursting of shells. I

have seen some carrion crows and there are many rooks and jackdaws.


Of game birds we see few, but the other night I saw two

cock pheasants with four hens feeding unconcernedly while shells

were bursting within three hundred yards of them. There were

some fine coveys of partridges on this farm in November. The roots

are all lifted now and I have seen none for some weeks. They

were the common partridge, not the French bird. Even now an

occasional hare is to be seen in the fields. I have seen no rabbits,

though the people of the town tell me they were plentiful a year ago.

Only once have I seen any plover, a flock of about fifty passed over,

but did not alight. There are some wood pigeons and, some time

ago, turtle doves, but they have gone. Birds of prey are few and far

between ; I have seen some sparrow hawks and a couple of kestrels

and one large hawk flying fast and high. I could not distinguish the

species. Flocks of chaffinches were all over the place a couple of

months ago, but now there are only a few, and the same with wag¬

tails. I saw none but the pied wagtail and one yellow wagtail. Small

flocks of larks are in the bare fields, and there are a few blackbirds

and thrushes. They sing whenever the sun shines, but this exercise

is unlikely to strain their vocal chords as the sun very seldom shows



